Space guard for dry cleaning machines or the like



July 21, 1931. E. B. GROSS I 1,815,732

SPACE GUARD FOR DRY CLEANING MACHINES OR THE LIKE Filed July 5,. 1927 .Eczwanl Gros Patented my 21,1931

' liability of burning-the operatives orof start- EDWARD nfenoss or BUFFALQI NEW-YORK srAcEcUmnron Jinx cunning mnqnmnsonmnnmxn T [A plication skinn 5,1927. Serial No; 203,291.v 'i

V invention relates to improvements "space; guards for dry cleaning machines or f the like of'the typehaving' a stationary outer I into the space betweenithe casing andc yl 0 :ca singand' a rotatable or oscillatory inner cylinder "and; which fuses; "cleaning substance s p In such machines means'are usually proa i fl a le Yid f r Pre e t g i tic sf i l s inder. Machines 'of thistype alsoaaregeneranisn'i which;uponthe occurrence of a'fire,

is. operative automatically to close the doors ,l of the casing and cylinder 'and it o release a fi're extinguishingi agenti "Unless the, door of the casingfbe fully closed-, airwill" enter theinachine vviththeresulfi of preventing or "at least delaying the-extinguishment of "the i J fire Whileat the "same: time'fl'flames from the guard is in'f 'voperativelposition the door of 5 1 greater' forthe reasons "pointed out.

interior of the casing escape "with" the ing a fire in the building; 7 "In v machinesas heretofore manufactured', when the space the casing "cannotlie fully closed and the fire I hazard o-fsuch machines iscorrespondingly 3 j fThe objects of the invention'are1to overcomie thejfi're "hazard objections of prior I in operative position interposesnd-obstaclecasing 'under' Z fire" emergency conditions; With these objects in view I provide, for the purpose of c'los'ing the s'p'acefbetween ithe chines and to provide an' ezlt'ceedingly simple ana -easil manipulated {space guard which I toi'the coinplete closure-of the" door" of the casing "and cylinder; La combinationjvvh'ich consists of an apron, functionin'gflas a'c'losuref sists''generallyin such regimes of ombihaview ofthe guar tionfl and s ructural "details a p rt n :thercto.

An e nibodiment of invention isillns trated 1n the accompanying drawings, herethe machine.

'allyequippedwith fire extinguishing mech-' Fig. 4 is a detail sectional view at anangle to the planein which Fig, 3 is taken, the

PQ fi dma s I s l .Fig. 5 isa fra inentary detaitperspective position o I i Figi 6 is a perspective view of the guard plate orapron.

Fig; 7'is aperspective view of one of the vertical transverse section of plate or apron in operative supporting members for theguardaplate or apron, the other heingosimilarly constructed.

' Thejmachine includes an outer casing 10 offsubstantially cylindrical'form and having a-hinged door 11110 facilitate the transfer of articles lto or from an innerfrotatahle cylin--' 'Td'ei' :12 which ismounte cl on a shaft and driven by any suitable gearing (not shown) The cylinder has a door; similar to thelc asdoor wvhich, "whe machine iis in QP', eration, may he held closed hyany suitable-y means. I'When, articles are to'h'e transferred toor fromv this cylinder, the outer 'dooris opened to a substantially upright position Where 'contin'ued motion is prevented loy the fire control mechanism (not shown) which n is attached to the hracketindic ated at 10 a 4 and"Wherethe doors, center of gravity preancl havingslidable andpivotaI components of :movement 'and supporting; elements for said apronsvhich; are vv holly enc'losed-insaid vents it; from falling back to closed position.

[The door vis opened to a similar posi- 1tion'where it leans against the outer'door.

The'fi're control mechanism which is general- 1y provided include's means mounted on the gcasing-tokick the outer door to closed posi- "tionupon the occurrence of affire; It is ap- 50 Y horizontal position, the sides of the apron, will rest on the projections-19 and the free edge portion of the apron will rest on the support The marginal flange has a recess to which this invention isapplicable.

, As stated above, this invention relatesparits supporting members;

parent, of course, that the outer door, when -so actuated to closed position, willactuate theinner door to its closed position.

i Y 1 The above specified construction is that of a dry cleaning machine ofthe usual type and 17 atits upper end and a projectiona'djacent said recess provlding anoverhanging shoulder 18 and it is further provided with a pro-- jection 19 'extending horizontally outward from a point near its upper'end to support 'the'apron 20. The apron 20 is in the form of a flat plate having along its lower or inner edge, a reinforcing bar 21 provided with end 'trunnions22, these,"in the open position of thefapron, resting upon the bottom of the guides provided bythe marginal flanges 16,

the upper corners of the apron at the same time lying within the recess 17 The apron is alsoprovided with handles 23 whereby it may bema-nipulated. The sides of the apron,

adjacent the trunnions, are, cut away at 24 for clearance purposes as'explained hereinafter. a 1

Assuming that the machine has just been brought to rest after the cleaningfioperation has been completed. and. the apron is'in" open lows position ,(Fig, 3), the operation is as fol- The'door 11 is opened to its upright position and the door 14 unlatched andfopened to be removed, the space between the casing and cylinder should be coveredor closed.

This'isdone by raising the apronvertically V bythe handles 23 until the end trunnions 22 strike the shoulderslS. In this position it is noted thatthe cut away portions 24 of the apron extend beyond the shoulders v18 perimitting the sides offthe apron to clear said shoulders when the apron is rotated about its trunnions toward the cylinder. After the apron; has been rotated to a substantially lower wallof the openingwhich is normally closed by the door 14 whereby the space between the casing and cylinder is completely covered, The articles may now beremoved andin such removal if any of them drop as theyare taken from the cylinder, theyfwill fall uponthe apron 20. After refilling the cylinder with'other articles to be. cleaned, the

apron is rotated back to its'vertical position chinestarted.

From this it follows that when any articles are being transferred to or from the machine, the apron is in closed position. If, at this time, the cleaning substance should become ignited, thefire control mechanism will be actuated to close both doors. The complete closure of the inner door is prevented by the apron, but suiiicient clearance remains between the inner and outer doors to allow the complete closure of the outer door. With the, outer door thus fully closed, thefire is confined to the interior of the machine and admission ofair thereto is elfectually prevented whereby the fire can be readily smothered; Itis'obvious that regardless of guideways formed therein in which said apron is slidably' andpivotally mounted,

said supporting members being mounted within said casing ad acent the caslng door and formed to support said apron in either of twopositions; inoneof which it extends vertically without obstructing the space. between the' casing andcylinder and in'the other of which it extends substantiallyhorizontally acrosssaid-space with its free edge overlying andresting upon thelower wall. of r the door, opening of the cylinder 2.111 a .dry' cleaningmachine', an outer casmgand an enclosed cyl1nder,'ea ch pro- U vided with doors,"in combination with .an to a slmllar pos1tion.- Before the artlcles are apron, supporting, members for said apron having vertically arranged U-shaped 'elements mountedwithin said casing and each formed witha recess at itsupperendand an oyerhangingshoulder adjacent said recess,

theapronfhaving end parts which normally rest upon the lower portions of said elements and are slidable therein and which when the vapronis raised engage said shoulders as stops and provide trunnions about which the apron maybe swungto a position-in which it extendsacross the space'between said cylinder and easing.

:3. In a dry clea-nlng machine, an outer casing and an enclosed cylinder each provided with doors, in combination with an apron, supporting members for said apron having. vertically arrangedv u-shaped 'elements mounted within said casing and each formed with. a recess at its upper end, an

overhangingshoulderadjacentv said recess.

and a projectionnear-its upper end, the apronhaving end parts which normally rest upon thelowerportions ofsaid" elements and support the apron in a verticalposition in which it is slidable'in a vertical planepre--. scribed by the form of said elements, the

n apron also having re cesses'adjace'nt'saidend A 7 parts whereby'when the apron is fully raisedi theend parts engage said shoulders as stops and provide trunnions about which ,the apron I may be, swung to rajp'osition in which it extends across the space between said Cylinder and casing and in which it "engages said m;

jections as supports, saidrecqsses permitting such swinging movement.

I In testimony whereof I'affix my signatui'. l

EDWARDB. GROSS. 

